Unlocking the modern financial system

Leading MIT Sloan finance faculty share research, ideas with alumni in London

July 1, 2013

MIT Sloan professor Andrew Lo at Financial System 2.0 in London

The financial system is evolving and businesses and regulators need to move quickly to keep pace with the speed of change. That was a key lesson at Financial System 2.0, a special event held in London on June 13 as part of the MIT Sloan Finance Forum series.

Some 200 alumni and friends of the School attended the event, which saw MIT Sloan’s leading academics meet with experts from across the finance industry to discuss the state of the world’s financial markets and how to shape what comes next.

Highlights of the day included:

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Professor Stewart Myers’ look at management incentives and corporate governance. Myers discussed ways to build a functional balance between shareholder remuneration and good company management, including the idea of levying a transaction cost on shareholder intervention.

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Professor Andrew Lo’s examination of how financial markets can be harnessed to help cure cancer. Lo explained that a typical cancer drug development program could cost $200 million, with a success rate of 5 percent. However, instead of investing in one program, it might be possible to invest in 150 different ones, with diversification offering investors more than a 99 percent chance of at least two successes and a higher return on investment. The reduced level of risk resulting from diversification would allow managers of a “cancer megafund” to issue approximately $16.7 billion of debt immediately, Lo said.

“Instead of declaring war on cancer, we should put a price on its head,” said Lo.

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A frank discussion, chaired by Financial Times commentator Gillian Tett, on hedge funds and how they are evolving to respond to the shifting financial landscape.

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An overview of MIT Sloan’s intensive, one-year Master of Finance program. Launched in 2008, during the financial crisis, the program was developed to put highly-trained graduates to work in the financial sector. MIT Sloan’s goal is to create the next generation of global finance leaders, with a deep understanding of the profession’s potential contributions to society. Graduation data demonstrates that it is succeeding: although the finance sector has seen a general decline in interest, the number of graduates from MIT Sloan’s Master of Finance program continues to grow.

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Professor Antoinette Schoar’s demonstration of how to apply insights from behavioral finance in order to mitigate credit risk, particularly in emerging markets. Schoar explained that in many emerging market countries, small businesses regularly pay late and go into default. Behavioral economics suggests small businesses and individuals in emerging economies slip into default through lack of attention to the repayment cycle, said Schoar.

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Professor Andrei Kirilenko’s discussion of market evolutions and high-frequency trading. Kirilenko asked whether high-frequency trading is essentially beneficial or “legalized front-running.” He showed that a survey of market participants concluded that high frequency trading had been the cause of the May 2010 “Flash Crash” that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average dip 9 percent only to rebound a few minutes later.

But Kirilenko shared research showing that high-frequency trading had not caused the crash.

“We should not look at high-frequency trading as being ‘good’ or ‘evil,’” Kirilenko said. “It is more productive to think of it as a trade-off between beneficial and detrimental effects.”

Kirilenko also discussed the new MIT Sloan Center for Finance and Policy, which will serve as a hub for financial analysis of public policy issues and a collaborative platform to stimulate cooperation between government, the private sector, and academia.

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Professor Robert Merton’s demonstration of the role connectedness plays in the global financial markets. Merton warned that there is a need to improve integration between the different parts of government with responsibility for managing fiscal policy and promoting stability.